I am a 23 y.o. and have been with my company for just over 2 years. I am planning a Europe Trip for the end of July, which is typically a quite time for us.
The trip will last for 16 business days, of which I will have 12 days annual accrued by the time I leave. I need to take 4 days as LWOP.
Is this a reasonable request to put through?
Yeah, absolutely, that's the situation I'm finding myself in now. Would rather unpaid but it's not up as an option.
Yeah, with my previous employer leave can go negative 5 days after you have been with them for a year.
A down vote?
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Annual leave when sick or injured
If an employee is sick or injured while on annual leave, the employee can use their paid sick or carer's leave entitlement instead of using their annual leave.
The employer can still request the employee provide notice and evidence when taking sick or carer's leave while on annual leave.
Source reference: Fair Work Act 2009 s.89
How do you know this guy is going to be sick for the last few days of his holiday?
If he gets sick anytime during his annual leave, he's entitled to claim it as sick leave and have the days covered by the medical certificate, reimbursed.
The "last few days" would then be covered by the reimbursed annual leave.
@sir_bazz: I've seen this, just make sure you're not posting pics online at your location and those sad few last days and how sad you are to leave and then airport pics and the like .. had two colleagues caught out on this and had lied about being back in country but were sick.
It was a way to get those days originally declined paid for.
@DingoBilly: I don't get it either. lol
Anyway, I'll mark it down as the price that needs to be paid for raising awareness on employee rights and entitlements.
Won't be doing that again.
I didn't know this! Wtf
Yes, just go and see tshow for one..
I want my younger staff to travel; they come back refreshed and energised.
After two years you should have 40 days accrued (assuming you are local) yet you will only have 12 days accrued, so you have already used 28 days. Correct?It seems like you like your holidays and this might be an indication that you are not entirely comfy in your gig.
But, all things being equal, asking for 4 days LWOP is no career killer. You might of course have to deal with a simple 'no' as LWOP is entirely discretionary. But as someone else said above, a negative leave accrual is also quite reasonable.
Do you truly think that taking leave is a sign of not being comfortable? Not to mention 'you want your staff to travel' which means…you're not making any sense.
Not to mention your leave calculation doesn't take into account a shutdown period which is common among most industries except retail or commerce.
Heaps of industries don't have a shut down period…..
I assume they mean a week or two off at christmas.
Travel: yes is good but constantly thinking / taking holidays - not good
Depends on the work environment too; work shutdowns are not at all normal in many environments
As a further comment I would regard any staff reporting to me with negative leave balance after a mere two years as having an attitude problem. I've had a few over the years, generally "performance managed" out the door
Over and out
As a further comment I would regard any staff reporting to me with negative leave balance after a mere two years as having an attitude problem.
That's a bit harsh and superficial. There are effective workers who go into negative leave and non-effective workers who take no holidays and should quit their jobs, generalising new staff with negative leave as having "attitude problems" is silly.
That post hurt my brain.
Some places allow you to purchase leave.
Purchasing leave is an odd concept. It's like taking unpaid leave with more steps.
It's generally cheaper to pre-purchase additional leave than take unpaid leave.
Purchasing leave is great. In Telstra you could purchase up to 4 weeks leave and, if you didn’t take it all, they gave you the pro rata money back at the end of the year. It meant you had the option of the longer holiday, or more breaks, if you wanted them and acted as enforced saving if you didn’t. I always opted for my 4 weeks. Of course your boss had to be OK with what time you wanted off.
What is the difference between purchasing leave and leave without pay? I've been on LWOP before but didn't apply for it- my resignation "got lost on the way".
You gotta beg for LWOP, purchased leave is yours to use.
During purchased leave you will still accrue your annual leave and sick leave, whereas during leave without pay you aren't accruing leave for that period.
In the end you are still reducing your income to $0 for those days, but purchased annual leave is a bit more beneficial (end up with a couple more hours of leave maybe) if it is offered and you have the money to do it.
Some workplaces let you salary sacrifice when buying more leave (so your purchased leave is not taxed)
At my workplace, you can spread the cost of purchased leave over a very long period.
A month LWOP is two missing pay-cheques. A month of purchased leave is roughly 5.7 hours less pay per fortnight. Much easier to swallow.
It also doesn’t interrupt your other leave accrual.
You can take half pay leave.
I don't think that's a legal right.
Some employers offer it, sure.
What do you mean half pay leave is not legal ? Of course is legal :)
abb is saying it's not a "legal right". That is, an employer is not legally obligated to allow you to take twice as much leave at half-pay.
thats more related to long service leave. 3 months full pay or 6 months half pay concept
In general, it depends a lot on your workplace.
Ask early and get it in writing. It's really simple. It's more risky if you're not a permanent (which I don't think you are)
if you have annual leave, wouldn't you by default be permanent?
I took 12 months LWOP with my previous employer, just ask them, im sure it will be fine.
you also have to account for the two weeks of self-quarantine on top of the 4 weeks if Europe gets infested with the coronavirus.
I've taken lwop a couple of times, it either gets approved or doesn't.
Is this a reasonable request to put through?
Yes, it's a reasonable request to put through.
It may also be reasonable for your request to be declined for any number of reasons.
You should simply discuss the matter plainly with your direct manager and see where that goes. There is no way for anyone here to determine what the outcome of that conversation may be.
50/50
At my work you can take annual leave at half pay. Not sure how wide spread that is though.
Could you clarify what that means?
You get paid half when you go on leave, or paid half to give it up? Both sound illegal.
Or you can take additional holidays at half pay?
Instead of 4 weeks at full pay some employers allow the employee to choose to take 8 weeks at half pay etc.
That's it happydude. I probs could of explained that better in my first comment.
This question really has a different answer for different situations. Things like how many responsibilities you have and how easy it will be for everyone staying behind to pick them up should be what really influences your boss's decision to approve your leave.
Where I work, we don't normally have multiple people on holidays from the same team and get approved for all sorts of lengths. The company is also happy to let us have a negative balance of annual leave (pay it before we've earned it!).
It's 4 days, not 4 months.
What's wrong with just talking to your boss? After two years, I'd think that you already have a fair idea on what the answer is likely to be.
Hell, I know in your situation, my boss would say to max out my leave in the system and just take the extra four days! But that's because he knows I normally just work until I get my work done and never complain about extra hours or whatever I put in.
It is fine go enjoy
Talk to your manager first. If you get the okay, then it's all usually good (unless HR has a policy against unpaid leave - hence it's crucial to also check with them).
Make sure you also put the leave request in writing. It's no guarantee they won't backtrack but better than having nothing.
In my experience this should be OK. They can always say no, as it's their right, but I can't see it reflecting poorly on you just for asking.
Whether it reflects poorly on him would depend on his history with the employer and his role. someone that uses any excuse to get out of work, uses up all their sick leave etc I would say it would reflect very poorly on them, especially if they are in a role that would require the employer to back fill them.
That's true. My experience is also from the standpoint of being a not sh*t employee.
My employer (big corporate) loves when employees do this! They know that in an outcome driven organisation anyone taking this leave will "make it up" anyway and it costs the business less.
Yes
Unpaid leave triggers a bit of extra accounting which isn't without cost. A lot of companies would prefer to just give you the 4 days annual in advance.
Ask if you can take 1 day LWOP per week to minimise the hit to the pay packet.
It's a completely reasonable request. We'be had people who come into a job saying they already have a holiday organised and need to take unpaid leave a few weeks in. There's nothing unreasonable about requesting it. :)
Get travel insurance and check small print that pays out in case travel limits or bans across Europe derail your plans. Do it before buying the tickets etc. so it's all covered.
I'd say it's reasonable for you to request it, but I think it's also reasonable for the Employer to deny it based on staffing availability or workloads / depending time of the year (like accountants pre and post End of Financial year).
But yeah, you'll need to talk to the manager.
Some employers will even let you go into negative leave.
enjoy when u can, once its not ur time, no matter how much money u have or earn its useless
We prefer to give you negative leave, but only a few days, ill say 5 days would be the most. It's easier on the payroll.
Consider where you are flying to and where you are transiting. Depending on your company you may find yourself in forced sick leave for quarantine purposes.
I'm cancelling & refunding my trip to Europe due to the 14 day quarantine I would inevitably get for visiting Italy and instead head there some other time after it's all blown over.
Good luck with your trip OP!
Just put in the request - what do you have to lose. If your manager pushes back, ask the reason and if there is another solution you could explore - I.e negative leave etc. if the answer is still no, thank them for their consideration and then work out what to do next
My employer loves leave without pay. This is free money as a replacement worker won't be hired.
I hate leave without pay. This is dead money as I cover the extra work without the extra pay.
Go for it. I did the same when I started working for my current employer within the first year. 3 weeks in Japan. 2 weeks paid, 1 week unpaid.
Ofcourse thats normal.
Look into if ur employer allows u to purchase leaves. This way you can save some for tax.
And bump yourself up to another tax bracket the next year.
The appropriateness of LWP comes down to your industry and the management of your company.
But ultimately, it's your life. What's more important to you? Career or living life?
Some people value their time and life experiences far more than collecting material things.
no harm in asking.
Yes. Definitely a reasonable request if you have a good relationship with your manager, no two ways about it. It still is up to your employer whether or not they accept it, but generally they will considering they're getting out of paying a contracted employee in a quiet time of the year. If your manager still says no, ask if there is another solution such as accruing time in lieu or setting up some goals to achieve before you go on the leave, to keep both parties happy. Long story short, it's definitely a reasonable request and there's absolutely no harm in asking.
You will actually have almost 1 day of extra leave by the time you return. While on paid holiday you continue to accrue leave at the same rate of working. So check with HR the exact number you will have by the END of the paid leave, not at the start.
Could you work extra hours in the build up and accrue the necessary days in a flexitime kind of way?
Unpaid is better. Kinda makes it easier to ask for another day or two later because you're more likely to have some leave available, and any accrued/negative leave payouts will reflect salary at the time of departure, which would be in your favour.
It would kinda suck if you took 5 weeks in the first year, then 4 weeks every year after, and then had to pay back that extra week at a rate reflecting a few promotions along the way.